Gonzaga Bulldogs look for 'more attentive' start vs. Eastern Oregon

Gonzaga hosts Eastern Oregon out of the NAIA in final tune-up before the Maui Invitational

It won't be long before the going gets tough for the No. 11 Gonzaga Bulldogs.

In less than a week, they'll head down to Honolulu, Hawaii, for the Maui Invitational, arguably the most loaded multiple-team event of the 2023-24 college basketball season. The eight-team tournament features five ranked programs, including three of the top four in the AP Top 25 poll. Gonzaga is slated to take on No. 2 Purdue in the first round, then either No. 7 Tennessee or Syracuse the following day.

With the potential of playing up to three top-10 teams in three consecutive days, the Bulldogs are in for a grind from Nov. 20-22. That doesn't leave a lot of time to make many adjustments from the first two games, especially after Steele Venters went down with a torn ACL just a few days before the season opener.

"Hopefully we can make some adjustments," Mark Few said after Gonzaga's 86-71 win over Yale on Friday. "We were still kind of scrambling after the Steele thing. I was very comfortable with what our rotations were, what we could run, what we could do defensively. We had to reset after all that so I think we're settling in now."

The Bulldogs have one chance at fine-tuning before heading to Hawaii when they host NAIA foe Eastern Oregon on Tuesday.

The Mountaineers (0-3) have yet to pick up their first win of the season after being picked to finish second in the Cascade Collegiate Conference preseason poll. Two of their losses came in close matchups against top-10 NAIA programs, a promising sign for third-year head coach Chris Kemp and his squad. Eastern Oregon lost its top two scorers from last season's 21-11 team, but new faces have emerged to fill in the scoring gaps.

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Malachi Afework, a 6-foot-1 sophomore from Federal Way, paces the team in scoring at 19 points per game, while 6-foot-3 sophomore Garrett Hawkes chips in 18 points per outing. Hawkes dropped 38 points on 14-for-21 shooting in the Mountaineers' loss to Arizona Christian last Friday. Kamal Muhammad leads the team in rebounding with 7.3 boards per game.

Compared to the Zags, size doesn't favor Eastern Oregon. Muhammad at 6-foot-8 is the tallest player in the rotation, with 6-6-foot-6 wing Preston Chandler being the only other source of notable height. Gonzaga has taken full advantage of its smaller opponents thus far in Lewis-Clark State and Yale with a combined +40 rebound margin between the two foes.

That stat won't indicate much until the Bulldogs take on the likes of Purdue's 7-foot-3 center Zach Edey, but one facet that can translate is their attention to detail out of the starting gate. Yale jumped out to a double-digit lead in the first five minutes as Gonzaga's offense sputtered against the more experienced Ivy League opponent. Against Easter Oregon, Mark Few shouldn't have to burn a timeout to rally his troops together.

"I would just say ... come out the gate more attentive [and] understanding assignments," Nolan Hickman said of the Mountaineers matchup.

Another area to take note of is the minutes distribution among Gonzaga's guards and wings. Hickman, along with Ryan Nembhard, essentially played all 40 minutes in the season opener, as Few leaned on a seven-man rotation plus four minutes between 6-foot-8 forward Jun Seok Yeo and guard Luka Krajnovic. That imbalance won't last the duration of the season, and Few noted that he'll have to incorporate more of his bench down the road.

"I got to get Jun in there, I gotta get Luka in there," Few said. "That's a hard ask for guys that are new to our program, new to the United States, new to the language and all. That is a hard ask. And so those guys are going to be fine."

Tuesday presents an opportunity for the coaching staff to bring along the less experienced reserves, including Serbian forward Pavle Stosic. Depth has become vital with Venters out, which will put more weight on everyone's shoulders moving forward. Having another solid player in the rotation who can step in for 12-15 minutes per night so a starter can rest would make a big difference in keeping players that much more fresh for the postseason.

For now, Gonzaga's focus is on the Mountaineers. Tip-off from the McCarthey Athletic Center is set for 6 pm PST on KHQ/ESPN+.

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